Book Report/Edenville Owls

The great mystery writer, Robert B. Parker, has written a book for the younger crowd, called Edenville Owls. I haven't read much about it online, yet I can't help but feel that this book has a lot of his own childhood in it. The book begins just after World War II ends. We get little chapters about the radio shows and commercials of the day, but mostly it is a story about all of us at 13 or 14 years old. There is a mystery - who is the man involved with the new teacher? And there is basketball. These boys have formed their own team, sans coach, and are figuring it out as they go. I loved it. I love the spare language, I love the time period, I love the boys, and I love Joanie, whom, I am quite sure, is based on Parker's wife. The "hero" of the story is Bobby. I'm hoping that the typical concerns of junior high boys will grab young readers, and they will come away from the book with a greater knowledge and understanding of those times so long ago to them. We learn a lot about the war and its effects on people, and we learn what life was like for women in 1946. I feel quite certain that this will grow into a series, and I hope it does.